Bobby Rogers dies: The Miracles founding member was a Motown legend

Bobby Rogers, a Motown musician best known for helping to found the group The Miracles, has died. He was 73. The Associated Press reports that Rogers died in his suburban Detroit home on March 3 after a long illness.

The Miracles was made up of Rogers, his cousin Claudette Rogers, Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore and Ronnie White. Though the band disbanded in the 1970s, it is best known for the singles "The Tears of a Clown," "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" and "Shop Around."

"Another soldier in my life has fallen. Bobby Rogers was my brother and a really good friend," Robinson says in a statement. "He and I were born on the exact same day in the same hospital in Detroit. I am really going to miss him. I loved him very much."

The Miracles was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, but Rogers was reportedly too sick to go to the ceremony. He was able to attend when the band received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2009.